Morata added to the tumult by springing from the bench at Levante on Saturday to score Madrid’s 88th-minute equaliser, before immediately retrieving the ball from the back of the net to ensure there was time for Cristiano Ronaldo’s deflected injury-time strike to give Los Blancos an undeserved 3-2 victory.

Benzema had been withdrawn on 78 minutes, after another subdued performance in which he failed to land a single shot on or off target.

The former Lyon player has now not scored in over 500 minutes of La Liga action for Madrid, and heads off to international duty with France knowing his barren spell for his country has run to well over twice that time.

Fans inside Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu have recently been showing their discontent with their side’s only senior striker, and have regularly chanted the name of the 20-year-old homegrown canterano.

A Marca poll held on Sunday said that 92 percent of madridistas want the youngster to replace Benzema for Malaga’s visit to the Bernabeu after the international break -- a figure up from 86 percent in a similar vote in AS last week.